1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to adding internet functionality to a telephone call.
2. Description of the Related Art
Every day thousands of telephone calls are made across the world. Frequently, the calling and called parties participating in such a call will only know the bare minimum about each other. This may comprise the name and phone number alone. It is therefore extremely likely that during the course of a telephone conversation additional personal details will need to be exchanged. For example, it may be necessary for either or both parties to exchange home and business addresses. Typically one party communicates these details to the other, who writes them down onto paper or enters them into a computer database. There is no guarantee however that this information will be scribed accurately. Pronunciation may hinder the person taking down the information and certain words may need to be spelt out. This process can be time consuming if there is a large amount of information to be exchanged and especially if information needs to be exchanged in both directions. This exchange thus encroaches upon the conversation under way. Furthermore, if scribed onto paper, the information is easily mislaid unless properly stored away. Typically a recipient of such information will therefore organise it into a useful format. This may involve, for example, entering the information into an electronic contacts database. Again this takes time and it is quite likely that mistakes will be introduced during the transferral process.
On a grander scale, certain organisations, for example insurance operators, spend hours on the phone taking down customers"" details. The more information required the longer a single call will take. Other callers are frequently frustrated at having to wait many minutes in a queue before getting through to an operator. Clients also become frustrated at having to give the same information out time and time again to different companies.
It is not only personal details and other xe2x80x9cestablishedxe2x80x9d data that a caller may wish to record. During a telephone conversation a detailed discussion of one topic or another may take place. If a caller wants a record of this then they are required to take notes whilst on the phone. This too can hold up proceedings and again there is no guarantee that the information will be accurately scribed. Furthermore, when a caller is misquoted on an important issue, they have no concrete proof that an injustice has been committed.
In addition to this, callers may wish to receive from or transmit to the other participant in the telephone call certain documents. These either have to be sent via post and there is a delay of a few days before they are received or have to be emailed. Either way, this is a separate process which has to be carried out. There is no automation involved.
The Direct Talk Voicemail system, available from IBM, connected to a Hicom switch from Siemens Corp, is cooperable with Lotus Notesxe2x80x94IBM""s email system to provide an IBM employee with details of callers who leave them a voicemail message. No details are supplied if a caller gets through to the person at the other end. Furthermore, the system does not cater for calls from external callers. It informs you that you were called by such a caller and gives the time at which the message was left, but no more. In addition, no provision is made for swapping details in the opposite direction. In other words, for providing the calling person with details of the person they called.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 5,592,538, issued Jan. 7 1997, discloses a telecommunications device permitting mixed voice and data communication during a single telephone call. The invention may be practised either by installing a plug-in module and special software within a personal computer (PC) or via a stand-alone device comprising a display, modem chip, user interface etc. If the former is implemented then each telephone has to be connected to an up and running PC. With the latter, participants have to invest in new telephony equipment. Furthermore, data transfer has to be manually initiated at either end and temporarily interrupts voice The data for transferral is stored locally at each end and may therefore be subject to less stringent backup procedures.
Accordingly, the invention provides a system according to claim 1.
In a further aspect, the invention provides a method according to claim 17.
According to the preferred embodiment, a telephone conversation may take place as normal with the exchange/receipt of information via the Internet being both an automatic and transparent process. Calls may originate/terminate in any country all over the world. Callers subscribe to certain options regarding the type of information they wish to send/receive. They may for example, wish to exchange personal details with a caller at the other end. The conversation is not interrupted in order to exchange this information. The information sits on an Internet Service Provider""s (ISP) server and can be transmitted time and time again to those parties who wish to receive it. There is less likelihood of the information being corrupted since it is stored centrally and since the backup procedures are likely to be more stringent than those of an ordinary user. Time is not wasted providing the same information on countless occasions over the phone. Telephone conversations may be shorter and more focused. Organisations can deal with more customers and don""t keep people waiting to be served for nearly so long. Furthermore, callers do not manually have to make a note of the information being exchanged. A first caller may receive information from a second caller and vice versa in the form of an email. Errors are no longer introduced as a result of mistakes made when taking down the information. Pronunciation is no longer a problem and words do not need to be spelt out. The information may be easily transferred to a database or stored away in an email notelog for future retrieval. Information is much less likely to be mislaid.
It will be seen that in using the invention any information may be exchanged. Callers may transfer files to one another, including images, word processing documents, executable programs etc. For example, a caller may like to know what the person they are talking to looks like and therefore subscribe to receive the image of any person they call who has made such an image available for transmission.
Organisations may wish to automatically transfer files to customers/potential customers. For example a mail-order company may want to automatically send to all callers who are not on their mailing list their catalogue. This could be transmitted straight to the caller""s mail box via email.
Preferably, all information may be encrypted in order to provide for the transmission of private data. For example, a financial institution may wish to receive account details, credit card numbers, account passwords etc. If a caller chooses to send them this information, they can be happy in the knowledge that this is will be securely transmitted.
It is also possible for a caller to request that all their telephone calls be automatically recorded and either deposited as a sound file or converted to text and deposited as a text file in their mail box. It is therefore, no longer necessary for them to take notes during a telephone conversation. Furthermore, individuals can no longer misquote callers who subscribe to this option. Such callers possess a copy of the call as proof of what was discussed.